Medical bodies line up for research fund cash

MELBOURNE scientists will be pushing to attract up to half of the new $20 billion medical research fund, to place the city at the forefront of future breakthroughs.

With Victoria already producing more than 40 per cent of the nation’s medical ­research, and being home to 13 world-class institutes and more than half of Australia’s biotech companies, scientists are queuing up to accelerate their research.

Only one in six research applications currently gains funding.

But the new Medical Research Futures Fund effectively doubles the projects to be undertaken, with $2 billion a year committed by 2023.

Alzheimer’s Australia is calling for a brain trust of experts from universities, health groups and hospitals to ensure the money is used to optimise outcomes for patients.

The fund’s priorities are expected to be dementia, cancer and heart disease.

Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes director Prof Garry Jennings said the funding would attract international studies and help form global partnerships, but keep the brightest minds here.

“This is an international game we are in, and the steps are usually little steps towards solutions for big health problems, relying on people networked into other activities around the world,” Prof Jennings said. “By having a significant effort it gives us a place at the table, it gives us more ­opportunities.

“We do very well in medical research and we have a very proud history, but there is a lot of unfinished business when you look at our ageing communities and the effect it is going to have on diseases.”

Cancer Council Victoria has funded $46 million in ­research projects in the past 10 years, but research demand exceeds available cash each year.

Spokeswoman Nicola Quin said the number of highly ranked projects missing out on national funding has increased over the past five years. It is hoped this fund will help ­reverse that trend.

Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health director Professor Geoffrey Donnan said the funding marked a “paradigm shift” for medical researchers after years of struggle.

“We can now create jobs, fast-track research and apply emerging knowledge to clinical trials, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals,” he said.

After spending seven years overseas longing to come back to work in Australia, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute geneticist Dr Alyssa Barry hopes the fund will make medical research a more attractive and stable career option for graduates.

But the Medical Scientists Association of Victoria said the fund was a white elephant that would produce no outcomes for Australians until at least 2020.

grant.mcarthur@news.com.au

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How a share of the $20 billion could further some of Victoria’s best research:

ORGAN PRINTER

Melbourne scientists hope to print out whole organs. St Vincent’s Hospital and University of Wollongong already use 3D printing to produce cartilage, muscle and nervous system cells and hope to incorporate patients’ cells within the next three years and eventually manufacture skin, cartilage, arteries and whole organs for transplants.

They are pushing for $120 million in State and Federal funding to build the new Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery to make it happen.

CANCER FIGHT

Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre are growing patients’ cancer tissue in a laboratory to test their next treatment options before they become resistant to their current medication.

With funding of $15 million over five years the personalised medicine could expand and accelerate the research.

VISION QUEST

Within five years Melbourne scientists hope to restore sight to the blind. Bionic Vision Australia’s first generation bionic eye, with a 22-electrod device, is giving three people enough vision to navigate.

Under a $20 million planned expansion they want to build up to a 256-electrode bionic eye within five years to restore sight to see faces and read text.

HEALTHY KIDS

A world-first guide on what it takes to create a healthy child could be fast-tracked.

Murdoch Children’s Research Institute want to track more than 1000 Victorian children from birth to age seven and collect vital information on diet, exercise, mental health and socio-economic factors, such as poverty, education and where they live.

The information will be used to create a book to help parents understand how to raise a healthy child.

HEAD START

A hi-tech brain implant to stop epileptic seizures before they happen or cure obsessive compulsive disorder needs new research funding.

Melbourne’s Bionics Institute needs about $15 million so it can refine technology so an implant can monitor brain waves to detect a seizure and fire an electric pulse into a brain to prevent it happening.

STRONG HEARTS

Melbourne scientists are developing a drug to stop heart attacks and reduce their lethal long-term damage.

Monash University’s “dimmer switch” controls a protective protein in the heart without dangerously slowing or stopping the heart, and may lead to drugs to combat obesity, schizophrenia, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease.

The drug, which would take up to 10 years to develop, may be fast-tracked by a funding boost.

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